CHAPTER XH 



THE STATE AND THE NATIONAL FARM BUREAU 

 FEDERATIONS 



IN the growth and development of the county agent and 

 farm bureau movements, there have been four distinct 

 steps: (1) The employment of county agents by the gov- 

 ernment, at first chiefly in cooperation with urban agencies 

 and then in cooperation with farmers, (2) the organization 

 of local county associations of farmers, usually called 

 "farm bureaus," to cooperate in program-making and in 

 the support and management of the county agent's work, 

 (3) the federation of these county associations into state 

 organizations to promote state programs especially along 

 legislative and economic lines, and (4) the combination 

 of the state federations into a national body to promote 

 a national agricultural policy through economic, legisla- 

 tive and organization activities and generally to protect 

 and to work for farmers' interests. 



All this has taken place in the last ten years and most 

 of it in the last five years. The last three steps have taken 

 place almost simultaneously in many parts of the country 

 a fact which in itself constitutes one of the chief weak- 

 nesses of the movement. With the first two of these steps 

 we have already dealt. It now remains for us to study the 

 third and fourth steps in relation to their nature, purposes 

 and effects. 



